Four-time stage winner Cavendish pulls out of Tour

Britain's record-breaking cyclist Mark Cavendish has pulled out the Tour de France ahead of the forthcoming mountain stages.

The 23-year-old has won four stages in this year's race, each time in a last-ditch sprint to the finish, becoming the first Briton in history to claim more than two victories in a single year.

As expected, he struggled during previous stages in the Pyrenees, and with the Tour set to climb into the Alps this afternoon, he has decided not to jeopardise his Olympic hopes next month by pushing himself through more misery in the mountains.

Mark Cavendish has become the toast of British sport with four magnificent wins at the Tour de France

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After victories on stages five, eight, 12 and 13, the racer from the Isle of Man was too tired to pull himself to the front of the peloton yesterday and finished over three minutes behind sprint winner Oscar Freire.

After the stage, Team Columbia manager Bob Stapleton admitted Mark Cavendish would "seriously consider" pulling out before today's Alpine opener.

Stapleton said: 'He is clearly very tired. I think we have to seriously consider him stepping out. That's something we need to give full consideration to.

'It's important for us that he is part of that decision so we'll talk with him when he feels better.'

Cavendish will now have plenty of time to recover ahead of his participation in the Madison event at the Beijing Games.